DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES ANDLITERATURES

Marie-José Nzengou-Tayo, CAPES Haiti, BA, MA Besançon, PhD Lille III, D.E.A Antilles-Guyane, Palmes académiques Chev.

– Head of Department

WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT

The Department welcomed five newmembers: Ms. Nathalie-Zoé Fabert

(French), Ms. Nadia Bouadi-Barco(Spanish), Ms. Patricia Dos Reis(Portuguese/Brazil); Ms. KumikoYoshida, (JICA Volunteer/Japanese),and Mr. Clifton McCook, LanguageLab. Technician. Dr. Françoise Cévaërwent on Sabbatical Leave for2008-2009. Dr. Paulette Ramsay waspromoted to the rank of SeniorLecturer with tenure effective August1, 2008; she was also featured amongthe UWI scholars selected for thespecial Issue of The Pelican, “60 Under 60,” and her research fellowshipwas extended for an additional year. Mrs. Doreen Preston who was onSabbatical in 2007-2008 went on no-pay leave for the first semester andresigned effective July 31, 2009. Our colleague, Dr. Claudette Williams, was promoted to the rank of Professor and was elected to the UniversityCouncil for 2008-2009. She continued to serve as Deputy Dean incharge of Student Matters, Academic Quality Assurance, and wasappointed Chair of the Institute of Caribbean Studies. Thirteenmembers of the Department were recognized at the Guardian LifeAnnual Premium Teaching Awards 2008 on October 2 for scoringconsistently 4.8 to 5 in Student Evaluation.

On October 30, 2008, the Department hosted a panel on “BeyondLanguage Barriers: Oral Traditions in the Caribbean,” in collaborationwith the Alliance Française de la Jamaïque. Mr. Hector Poullet, fromGuadeloupe and Ms. Amalia Posso Líu from Colombia, Mrs. Jean Smalland Amina Blackwood-Meeks presented on Folk Tales and Proverbs ofthe Region.

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The HOD met with the Heads of Language Sections and the Director of the Language Learning Centre at the Inter-Campus meeting held inBarbados in January 19-21, 2009 in order to foster cross-campusco-operation in the implementation of the University 2007-2012Strategic Plan.

Confucius Institute. In February, a Confucius Institute, Jamaica wasestablished at the Mona Campus under the umbrella of theDepartment. The inaugural lecture of the CI, entitled “Language,Learning and the Future,” was delivered on February 12, 2009, by Dr.Courtney A. Hogarth from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. A second Confucius Institute Lecture on “Hakka Castle Dwellings:World Unesco Heritage” was held on April 14, 2009 and presented byDr. Keith Lowe, a former director of the Chinese Cultural Centre ofGreater Toronto. The Confucius Institute was also associated with aslideshow series on China organized by the Chinese CulturalAssociation (June 3 and 10, July 1 and 7) and presented by Dr. Mai KenLiu.

Obituary: The Department mourned on June 24, 2009 the unexpecteddeath of its Administrative Secretary, Mrs. Maria Cover-Alao, amember of staff for 37 years .

Teaching and Learning.

The French Section submitted its post-review Action plan to AQAC. The Department held its usual retreats at the end of each semester toreview teaching and exchange about best practices. It was agreed thisyear that CSEC 1/2 and CAPE students should be separated as ofSeptember 2009. Another matter of concern was the attrition rate atthe advanced level of the language courses. Two new Japanese courseswere designed with a view to offering a Minor in Japanese. A new LevelI Spanish course on popular Hispanic culture SPAN1214 was approvedby AQAC. One French course FREN2702 was redesigned to be offeredat level I and received approval for a year.

Evaluation of Lecturers and Courses

The Department continues to be highly rated for its teaching andcourses. The mean average was 4.6 (lecturers) and 4.3 (courses) forsemester 1 and 4.5 (lecturers) and 4.1 (courses) for semester 2.

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Publication output per capita

3 per capita in the lecturer category and above, not counting Graduatestudents in Lecturer positions [21 publications: 16 refereed, 5non-refereed].

Student-centered activities

The Department received various donations of books and teachingmaterial from the French, Japanese, Mexican and Spanish Embassies inJamaica.

In October, the Spanish Club showed three Colombian films incollaboration with LACC and the Colombian Embassy. TheDepartment organized a Modern Language Day at the Philip SherlockCentre for the Creative Arts on February 12, 2009. On April 8, 2009,the Spanish Club staged successfully its annual Noche Latina at thePhilip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts. Seven studentsparticipated in the Inter-Campus Modern Language Theatre Festival,which was celebrating its 10th anniversary at the Cave Hill Campusfrom March 23-24, 2009.

International Relations.

On February 13, 2009, the Vice-President of China, H.E. Mr. Xi Ping,while visiting Jamaica, presented the Confucius Institute Plaque to theCampus Principal.

Four students went on exchange programmes: two spent the firstsemester at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras; one spent theyear at the UAG, Schoelcher Campus in Martinique and the other oneat the Université Bordeaux IV.

Two graduating students from the Japanese language programme wereselected to participate in the JET programme and four students wereoffered Assistantships in France.

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PAPERS PRESENTED

Françoise Cévaër

• “Facing Irrationality in Crime fiction from Africa and theAmericas,” 5th International Symposium of the Centre forCaribbean Studies in Brazil, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, September30 – October 3, 2008.

• (with Hugues Péters). “Réflexions sur un corpus orald’apprenants B la didactique des langues secondes dans lesCaraïbes anglophones,” Linguistics Graduate Programme andInternational Colloquium. University of Puerto Rico, RioPiedras, February 4-6, 2009.

Lindy Jones

• “Opening Up Towards Africa: Cuban Politics and the Poetry ofNancy Morejon”. Queen’s University Conference: The Measure of a Revolution: Cuba, 1959-2009. Toronto, Canada, May 7-9,2009.

Gilles Lubeth

• “Between Past & Present, Negotiation Tables and Roadblocks. Does the Guadeloupe Crisis Mark the End of a System?”Graduate / Departmental Research Seminar of the Department of Government, Faculty of Social Sciences, March 26, 2009.

Marie-José Nzengou-Tayo

• “Césaire et La tragédie du roi Christophe: l’histoire haïtiennecomme ferment de la lutte anti-colonialiste.” October 15-16,2008, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre Y Maestra (SantoDomingo and Santiago de los Caballeros).

• “Using CALL to Teach Advanced Writing Competence.”Inter-campus Modern Language Symposium, UWI, St.Augustine, May 26, 2009, Trinidad and Tobago.

• Dominican Views of the Haitian Revolution: Carlos EstebanDeive’s Viento negro, Bosque del Caíman. LASA Congress, June11-14, 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Ileana Sanz

• “Vacio cultural vs. vanguardia: los albores de un discoursoautóctono en el Caribe anglófono y sus resonancias en Cubadecimonónica.” LASA Congress, June 11-14, 2009, Rio deJaneiro, Brazil.

Papers presented at the 34th annual conference of the CaribbeanStudies Association, Kingston, Jamaica, June 1-5, 2009.

Caroline Cousins

• “Heteroglossia and Fluid Subjectivities in Caribbean WomenWriting.”

Françoise Cévaër

• “Re-interpreting Haitian History through Vodou.”

Lindy Jones

• “The African Womanist in Georgina Herrera’s poetry.”

Warrick Lattibeaudiere

• “From Chameleon to Matador and Back: Towards a FeministPolitics of Change in Montero’s Del rojo de su sombra,Chamoiseau’s Texaco and Confiant’s Mamzelle Libellule.”

Marie-José Nzengou-Tayo

• “Establishing a Compulsory Foreign Language Requirement forthe Degree at The UWI, Mona Campus? Challenges andProspects.”

Patricia dos Reis

• “Brazilian Portuguese and the New Orthography.”

Ileana Sanz

• “CASA and Caribbean Studies.” Panel “Casa de las Américas:50 Years on the Move.”

• “The spirit of Africa in contemporary Cuban literature.”

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Maria-Tereza Villoria Nolla

• “Invisibility Undone: Heterogeneity and Mestizaje in Mayra’sMontero’s Son de Almendra.”

PUBLICATIONS

Refereed

Cévaër Françoise

* “Facing irrationality in crime fiction of Africa and theAmericas”, in “Conextes Afro-Atlânticas Caribe LiteraturaPós-colonial [Afro-Atlantic connections / Caribbean postcolonial literature]”, Revista Brasileira do Caribe, Vol.IX, n°18, CECAB, Brasilia, Jan-Jun 2009, 589-620.

* “Harlem-New York – Haarlem PARIS: America- Martinique: Daniel Picouly’s Caribbean Bridge over the Atlantic. CQCaribbean Quarterly Vol.55, No. 1, March 2009. Kingston:UWI, 75-97.

* “Enquêtes occultistes: les policiers du Sud face au surnaturel.” In Présence Francophone, “Enjeux du populaire”, FrançoiseNaudillon, No. 72, Worcester, USA: College of the HolyCross, 2009, 48-66.

* “Mythes et stéréotypes, vecteurs de la ‘constriction identitaire dans l’Impasse de Daniel Biyaoula.” Présence Francophone,No. 71. Worcester, USA: College of the Holy Cross, 2008,101-121.

* “Sur les traces de Chester Himes: intertextualité et identitétransnationale dans le polar francophone.” In Littératurefrancophone contemporaine: essai sur le dialogue et lesfrontières. Samira Belyazid (Ed.). New York, USA: TheEdwin Mellen Press, 2008, 37-51.

Nzengou-Tayo Marie-José

* “La colonie du nouveau monde: Condé’s Pessimistic Views of aCaribbean Utopian Community. CQ Caribbean QuarterlyVol.55, No. 1, March 2009, Kingston: UWI, 61-74.

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Ramsay Paulette

* Vivienne Harding, Janice Cools and Ingrid McLaren. Blooming with the Pouis: A Rhetorical Reader for CaribbeanTertiary Students. Critica Thinking, Reading and WritingAcross the Curriculum. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers,2009.

* (with Anne-Maria Bankay). On Friday Night. Translation ofLuz Argentina Chiriboga’s En la noche del viernes. Kingston:Arawak Publishers, 2009.

* “Cross Cultural Poetics: Debating the Place of Afro-MexicanPoetry in the Context of a Caribbean Literary and CulturalAesthetics.” In Perspective on “the Other America.” KerstinOloff and Michael Nibliss (eds). Amsterdam and New York:Rodopi, 2009, pp. 197-217.

* “On Page and On Screen: An Examination of GerardoFulleda Léon’s Placido (1982) and its CinematicRepresentation. In College Language Association Vol. II, No. 3March 2009, pp. 221-237.

* “Vale la pena siempre … la Resistencia. Presenting anOutstanding Afro-Cuban Dramatist.” Palara, No. 12, Fall2008, pp. 71-81.

* (with Claudia Bailey). “Integrating Discourse Communities:Using WAC Strategies to Enhance the Learning ofMathematics in a Grade 7 Class.” CJE Vol. 30, No. 2, 2008,pp. 345-378.

Sanz Ileana

* “Early Groundings for a Circum-Caribbean IntegrationistThought.” CQ Caribbean Quarterly Vol.55, No. 1, March2009, Kingston: UWI. 1-14.

* (with Valentine Egan, Douglas L. Rideout, Doreen Preston).(Translation). Complete Guide to Conjugating 12000 French Verbs. Loïc Hervouet (Ed.). Montreal: Editions Hurtubise,2009.

Williams Claudette

* “With all due respect…”: Postmodern Parody, Drama, andAntislavery Politics in Antonio Zambrana’s El negro Francisco.

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Afro-Hispanic Review. Vo. 28, No.1 (Spring 2009), pp.133-156.

* “Cuban Antislavery Narrative with a Costumbrista Twist:Francisco Calcagno’s Romualdo, uno de tantos.” Palara, No. 12 (Fall 2008), pp. 1-15.

Non-refereed

Nzengou-Tayo, Marie-José

* (with Velma Pollard). Foreword. CQ Caribbean QuarterlyVol.55, No. 1, March pp. v-vi.

* “Ralekase” (Preface). [Reprint] Serge MadhPre’s secondaugmented edition of Govi Lavi (Life’s Magical Jars).Washington: Sophex, 2009. pp. 7-11.

Ramsay, Paulette

* “Milk to the World.” (poem) Caribbean Journal of Education,Vol. 30, No. 2, 2008, 429.

* “A Word to History.” BIM Arts for the Twenty-First Century.Vol. 2, No. 2, May-November 2009, pp. 36-37.

Williams Claudette.

* Review of Alexandra Isfahani- Hammond, ed. The Masterand the Slaves: Plantation Relations and Mestizaje inAmerican Imaginaries. Afro-Hispanic Review, Vol.27, No. 2,Fall 2008, pp. 234-237

Income Generation

UGC Fund Income Expenditures

Sale of Manuals(UGC Fund) 173,798.00 Over expenditure of

UGC Controllables 21,183.82

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CommercialAccounts Income Expenditures

Colombian ExchangeDonation receivedfrom the LatinAmerican Women’sClub

50,000.00 Rental 10,800.00

Consultation +Other DepartmentalFund

36,963.38 Students’ Awardsand other expenses 33,000.00

Courses andTranslation servicesoffered in theLanguage Laboratory

188,158.00Salaries,Reimbursement andother expenses

180,500.00

Summer Courses 605,974.00Salaries andadministrativecharges

901,15.11

Total (UGC +CommercialAccounts) $

1,054,893.88Total (UGC +CommercialAccounts) $

1,146,608.90

PUBLIC SERVICE

Françoise Cévaer

– Member, Jamaica Association of French Teachers.

– Vice-President, Alliance Française de la Jamaïque

– Member, Caribbean Studies Association

– Member, Latin American Studies Association

Marie-José Nzengou-Tayo

– Member, Haitian Studies Association.

– Member, Jamaica Association of French Teachers.

– Member, Caribean Studies Association.

– Member, Latin American Studies Association.

– Secretary, International Shotokan Karate Association ofJamaica (formerly Japan Karate Association of Jamaica).

– Ex-Officio member, Executive Committee of the AllianceFrançaise de la Jamaïque (UWI Representative).

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– Peer Reviewer, Journal of Haitian Studies, MaComère,Caribbean Quarterly, Callaloo, Palimpsestes.

Doreen Preston

– Assistant Chief Examiner, French CAPE, CXC.

– Examiner and Interlocutor for English, Jamaican Creole,French and Spanish (Database of Chartered Institute ofLinguists in the United Kingdom).

– Certified forensic linguist, Chartered Institute of Linguists.

Paulette Ramsay

– Faculty advisor, UWI Chess Society.

– Guest Editor, Caribbean Journal of Education, Vol. 30 no. 2,Special issue on Writing Across the Curriculum: IntegratingDiscourse Communities in the Academy.

– Peer Reviewer, for Palara, Caribbean Journal of Education,Hispanic Journal, Dissidences: Journal of Cuban Exile Writing,Journal of Education and Development in the Caribbean.

CATEGORIES OF STUDENTS

Undergraduate:

Registration: 1799

Preliminary Courses

French 209Spanish 390Portuguese 50

Hospitality & Tourism Management

French 37Spanish 90

Non-BA Programme

Japanese 130

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BA Programme

French 199Spanish 694

Graduating Students

French (minor) 4Spanish 18

First Class Honours:

Marcia Jackson

Ainsley Reid

Keesha Robinson

Sabrina Watson

Shari Williams.

Postgraduate:

Registration: 11

MPhil French 2MPhil Spanish 1MPhil French/Spanish 1PhD French 1PhD French/Spanish 1PhD Spanish 1MA in Translation Studies 4 (Spanish 2, French 2)

Degree awarded:

Dr. Gregory Stevens (MPhil Spanish).

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Prizes Awarded:

French:

Level I William Mailer Prize: Renee Rattray

Level II Prix Jambec: Marcia Jackson

Level III Prix Gertrud Buscher: Jo-Lane Anderson-Figueroa

Level III French Embassy Prize Noelle Hoskins for overall achievement over the three years:

Bridget Jones Memorial Award: Safia BeersinghAllenya Hull

Bridget Jones and William Duran DuckettMailer Travel Fund:

Spanish

Gabriel Coulthard Prize: Marcia Jackson

Paul Davis Prize: André Clarke

Kemlin Laurence Prize: Noelle Hoskins

Latin American Women’s Ainsley Reid Club Award: Keesha Robinson

Natashalee Thompson

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